I had one of these for years. Instead of paying higher fees for premiums and coverage I wasn't using, I was able to lower my taxable income by placing that money into an HSA. Then, I got sick, and had major medical bills. I paid those bills using the money that I had been saving in my HSA all along. All in all, this worked out well for me. Next time I am eligible to change, I can make a new decision based on my medical needs. Until then, I'm been covered.

"The Omelette"Let me try to give you an analogy for Slashdot's homepage. It's like an omelette: it's a combination of sausage and ham and tomatoes and eggs and more. Over the years, we've figured out what ingredients are best on Slashdot. The ultimate goal is, of course, to create an omelette that I enjoy eating: by 8pm, I want to see a dozen interesting stories on Slashdot. I hope you enjoy them too. I believe that we've grown in size because we share a lot of common interests with our readers. But that doesn't mean that I'm gonna mix an omelette with all sausages, or someday throw away the tomatoes because the green peppers are really fresh.

There are many components to the Slashdot Omelette. Stories about Linux. Tech stories. Science. Legos. Book Reviews. Yes, even Jon Katz. By mixing and matching these things each and every day, we bring you what I call Slashdot. On some days it definitely is better than others, but overall we think it's a tasty little treat and we hope you enjoy eating as much as we enjoy cooking it.

Another thing to think about is which households to divide the cost per household among. While I have broadband in my area, maybe, as a taxpayer, I'd like it available in my parents area for when I visit. Maybe, I'd like the opportunity to live in a rural area with broadband. Without that opportunity, I may not do such. So, yes, if you take a really high number, and divide it by the number of houses in a sparsely populated area, it looks really expensive.

From time to time, some retailers do surveys to see where their business is coming from, and a ZIP code is a pretty good way to do it. It's about the least identifying piece of information that someone can collect about a customer's location. That said, using it for marketing to an individual is utter crap.

A lot of retailers ask me for my phone number, to which I reply, "I do not have a home phone." It's actually the truth, as I only have a mobile phone. Even if I did have a home phone, I would not give it out.

I'd say that them finding the location based on major landmarks would also be a good assumption. Addresses on highways or just outside of official city limits can be tricky to track down, that's for sure. I'd also agree that it's always nicer to have an extra tool than not, because, just like in your situation, things just don't always work out as planned.

Contrarily, I called a towing company in Chicago about a year ago at like 1:00 am. I used my phone to bring up a map of the area, and proceeded to tell the driver what street I was on in a particular suburb. He called back a while later, confused. Apparently, I told him the WRONG suburb. The statement that I was by a PF Chang's and a certain theater are what got him to me in the end, as well.;)

If my car broke down, and I had to call my insurance company, I'd assume they'd want to know WHERE my car broke down. I'd get that information before placing the call, because if I was the phone operator, the last thing I'd want to hear was, "Hold on. Let me look up where I am now that I have you on the line."

I think that this would be pretty strange on Adobe's part. They have a good market on Apple computers for graphic design. Flash can always be on other OS's than iOS, and getting it on Windows Mobile isn't exactly going to gain them large amounts of market share. Flash is the same type of product as Silverlight. Look at ColdFusion: web scripting language based on JSP and Java. Sounds like a competitor to ASP.NET, based on the.NET Framework. I'm not saying that ColdFusion is THE way to go by any means, but it's a product in the same space. Microsoft wanted to replace PDF with XPS a few years ago, which never took off. These two companies have too many common and opposing products for this to make any sense.

I think there's one other factor that people don't realize... You know those service intervals where you're supposed to have lots of stuff done for way more than you can afford? So far, the maintenance every 15,000 miles has been way cheaper.

If followed, this may be an additional $1000 over the first 100,000 miles. Each time, it's been over $200 cheaper to do it on a Prius than anything else.

It's hard to say what later intervals may require, but at 50,000 miles, I have only ever done the cheap 15,000 mile level of service, because my service advisor at the dealership says that their hybrids just don't need all of the service that their regular ICE engines do. I have gone in each time for the major service intervals expecting to pay in the neighborhood of $400 and always leave for under $200.

"Before the magazine's demise, many of the subscribers lived at home with parents."

And this changed how exactly after the bankrupcy of the magazine?

That's just it: it has probably changed a decent amount. If the original subscribers are not living with their parents, they are considering selling the subscribers' parents' addresses now. It could happen with any data sale, but I think that's the reason that the OP pointed out that the subscribers lived with their parents at that time.

Who I vote for in a multi-option election is a bit different than petitioning to have the actual vote. There are definitely analogies, and they do complicate the issue.

Last time I voted, my identity was checked. I then SIGNED my name stating that I was voting. That information is probably public. However, the manner in which I voted (Republican, Democrat, or write-in) is not.

Just because we can surmise how a petitioner voted when they petitioned the government to hold an election on an issue, does not mean that we know how they voted in the booth. Admittedly, it seems like you could predict the vote with 99% accuracy. You could also predict my vote with decent accuracy by looking at my political party registration and knowing that I voted. It may be less accurate, but it could be surmised all the same.

The government requires a threshold for the action that was taken. Having this information open keeps the government honest on whether or not the ballot should even include the question that the petitioner worked to have placed on the ballot. There are no 100% guarantees on how anyone voted, and there's no foolproof system to be sure that there isn't corruption in the system, either. However, this really isn't too bad, either.

I'm pretty sure that this is false in the case of things like shampoos and cosmetics. How else does the leaping bunny logo get into products? Tom's of Maine has a very interesting video on their web site where they talk about the work that they went through to get one of their toothpastes ADA approved without animal testing. While the ADA is not a government agency, the product is legally on store shelves. Requirements for drugs may be different, but for cosmetics and most personal care, I think it is not a requirement if the science is there.

Let's not forget, too, that until recently, the only carrier selling Android handsets in the US was T-Mobile.

While I love my T-Mobile, getting companies like Sprint and Verizon to sell Android phones is going to make a huge difference. It may not bring sales to iPhone levels, but the market share will increase dramatically. I

know that Verizon launched its first Android phone, the Droid, this month, and I think that Sprint has one on the market too, or will soon.

I work a part time job a couple evenings a week, and weekends or other commitments don't leave me a ton of time to cook, either. Still, cooking your own meals can make a difference. So, once or twice a week, I cook myself a proper meal. Since I don't feed anyone else, I have plenty of leftovers, but doubling the recipe would be equally easy if you have others to feed.

Do not put any of the meal in the fridge. Portion it into four containers and freeze all four. Now, you have one meal a week for the next month taken care of. Next week, do the same. Now you have two meals a week taken care of for the next three weeks and one for the following week. By week five, you should have something cooked for each day of the week and keeping up is as simple as one meal a week.

Frozen isn't quite as good as the first time, but it's still pretty good, and if you're eating frozen TV dinners anyway, you're surely one up on this.